In response to Lithuania’s decision to posthumously honor Juozas Ambrazevicius, the head of the Lithuanian Provisional Governments established in 1941, B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs and Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin sent the following letter to Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite:

“B’nai B’rith deplores the glorification and reinterment – with full honors – of a man who headed Lithuania’s Nazi-backed regime during the Holocaust. We call on you to cancel all public tributes to Ambrazevicius and to unequivocally condemn the role that he and his puppet government played in orchestrating the mass murder of Lithuanian Jewry.

Madam President, any ideology or movement that glorifies Nazism and minimizes the tragedy of the Holocaust must be forcefully opposed. The fact that Ambrazevicius’ regime attempted to restore the country’s independence in no way mitigates the atrocities they and the Lithuanian Activist Front committed against the victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania. We hope that you will set an international example in underscoring this crucial principle.”